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To: "oermsignal" Subject: Orange Empire Railway Museum Signals Update - 3/14/2004 This email is our new regular update about signals work (installation, maintenance and restoration) at the Orange Empire Railway Museum and is a collaborative effort -- the information for this e-news issue was provided by Gene Cranston.. If you have information that would be of interest to others, please email it to me and we'll include it in our next newsletter. If you would like to be removed from this mailing list, please email me. Likewise, if you know someone who would like to be added to this list, please have them email me. If you've received duplicate copies of this email, please contact me and let me know your preferred email address. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday (yesterday) from about 11am to about 4:30pm, Gene escorted Nev Mann, an Aussie friend of a friend around the museum. It was like having a big kid in tow. He even talked Tom (as dispatcher) into stopping the train at Oil Junction for them to get off so they wouldn't have to walk out to the pie yard. He charmed everyone. He didn't get to Barn 4 but got to nearly every thing else, if only briefly. Before Nev and his escort arrived, Gene changed out the power supply in the special Alpine Wig-Wag circuit he installed Friday. Gene had used a movable lamination type supply rated at 4.8 amps to run the wig wags. It would not run them. He changed to a 3.5 amp Santa Fe rectifier and it worked well. To back up a bit, the idea is to power the wig wags with a separate power source so they do not cause the circuit to fail the ground test. We will need to insulate the wig wag motors from the support or clean them up and re-impregnate the coils with varnish. The wig wags measure about 700-800 ohms to ground. When the wig wags are fixed the special circuit can be removed. The Mapes track circuits failed this week (and recovered). Gene turned them on Saturday so Operations could use the south main. The Gates and Flashers work perfectly, in spite of the rusty rail. This may be an indication that the circuits are too sensitive. Next time he has someone to assist, he will try making the circuits as insensitive as will shunt with .06 ohms. During the day, the south circuit failed once after the crossing was shut off. This is the first time one circuit has dropped without the other (except when the bonds were being replaced by Mike). Operations stopped using the south main because the trolley would come off the wire at Mapes Siding. Gene hopes that at least two or three pens of the chart recorder are repairable as it would to help find the time of these failures at Mapes Crossing and if they really are simultaneous on both the North and South approach circuits. Hopefully we can get the 2038 Signal cable installed in the new conduit next week, at least one more thing will be complete. Zeke is now the VP Plant and has asked for a list of what we plan to work on in the next six months. Gene will update the project/priority list off the web site. Also there seem to be a lot of minor "fix it" items popping up - we just need to remember them all and get them on the lists. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For additional OERM Signals information, visit the signals website at: http://gsee.sdf-us.org/signals. Question or comments regarding OERM Signals should be directed to the Signals Superintendent Gene Cranston. |